Then prepare to be shocked! She's been called Leslie by The World Almanac, The New York Times, The Independent, The Washington Post, The Telegraph...see for yourself, I'm sure they have Google in Britain.

A lot of these "rules" about personal names aren't as unbreakable as people might think. Some other "rules" one occasionally encounters:

"Alan and Allan are first names, but Allen is a last name." Perhaps Allen is less common as a first name, but there are Allen Iverson and Allen Funt, for example.

"Names with Mc are Irish; names with Mac are Scottish." Mc and Mac are essentially the same word; Mc is just an abbrevation. Names with either can be either. James McGill, after whom McGill University is named, was Scottish.

skullturfq wrote:A lot of these "rules" about personal names aren't as unbreakable as people might think. Some other "rules" one occasionally encounters:

"Alan and Allan are first names, but Allen is a last name." Perhaps Allen is less common as a first name, but there are Allen Iverson and Allen Funt, for example.

"Names with Mc are Irish; names with Mac are Scottish." Mc and Mac are essentially the same word; Mc is just an abbrevation. Names with either can be either. James McGill, after whom McGill University is named, was Scottish.

"What are "Rules" that make genealogists pull their hair out?"

Honestly, where do people come up with these silly "it's only spelled this way" rules? That's why Soundex exists!